Interior Department invests in biomass projects

Biomass Magazine June 2009
Posted May 27, 2009, at 10:04 a.m. CST
By Anna Austin

The U.S. Department of Interior recently announced it will invest $15 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to fund 55 projects in 12 states that will reduce hazardous fuels on federal land, in order to protect at-risk communities from wild land fires, support local economies and rehabilitate ecosystems damaged by wildfires.

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Algal Biomass Organization Announces New Directors

ABO
May 27, 2009 02:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Industry organization expands leadership group to help accelerate growth of algae industry

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) today announced the appointment of four new board members, and the re-election of an existing board member. The additional board members will help the organization increase its efforts to help develop the industry as increasingly algal biomass is being considered as a vital resource for clean and renewable energy.

The board members represent a wide range of industries, organizations and companies, in keeping with the ABO’s commitment to developing a membership from across the value chain. The board makeup now includes representatives from academia, professional services, technology and project development and end-users.

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ADM Does the Ethanol Shuffle

Reuters
Tue Jun 2, 2009 12:28pm
By ryan.blitstein - The Big Money

When Patricia Woertz assumed control of lumbering agriculture multinational Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in 2006, the ethanol boom was nearing its zenith. The former Chevron (CVX) executive launched a series of bold moves, pledging to spearhead ADM’s transformation from gorilla of grain into eco-friendly energy giant.

After the biofuels bubble burst, though, ADM took a serious profit hit, and its stock lost half its value in nine months—before the rest of the market took a nosedive. Since then, Woertz’s response has been all over the map: She quietly sent one C-level executive packing and instituted ADM’s second rebranding in two years while publicly claiming her strategy remains the same. Despite Woertz’s attempts to rewrite recent history, though, it’s clear her bioenergy bet hasn’t quite paid off, and less apparent what she plans to do about it.

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Brazil to Start Producing Second-Generation Ethanol in September

Brazil Magazine (Los Angeles)
Written by Isaura Daniel
Tuesday, 02 June 2009

Brazilian president's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's Chief of Staff Dilma Roussef stated that Brazil intends to continue its global leadership in the second-generation ethanol, made from cellulose. Rousseff talked about this at the opening of the 2nd Ethanol Summit, a meeting at Sheraton Hotel, in São Paulo, that brings together professionals in the chain in Brazil and abroad.

The event should end on Wednesday, June 3. According to the ministers, who represented president Lula at the meeting, apart from maintaining global leadership in ethanol, the government is also prepared to reach ethanol production from lignocellulose.

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Plant-derived fuels could be certified for flights within a year, says Boeing exec

The New York Times Energy and Environment
By KATIE HOWELL, Greenwire
Published: May 29, 2009

Jet fuels derived from algae, camelina and jatropha -- plants that pack an energy punch, are not eaten as food and do not displace food crops -- could be approved and replacing petroleum fuels in commercial flights as early as next year, a Boeing executive said yesterday.

Bill Glover, managing director of environmental strategy for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, which is leading an effort to develop, test and certify alternative jet fuels, said the technology is ready. Now, it is just a matter of growing enough non-food feedstock plants and refining enough of their oil.

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If Federal Ethanol Policy Is Threatened, How Serious Would It Be?

CattleNetwork.com
6/1/2009 8:24:00 AM

If you are playing the game Jeopardy! and the answer is “ethanol,” you might be tempted to respond, “What bio-fuel carries the most controversy?” Regardless of the turn that ethanol supporters make, there is always some roadblock to surmount. As Congress is faced with energy policy, food prices, and many other issues that ethanol touches, what are the economic impacts if any change is made from the status quo? Some are significant.

Several Members of Congress recently asked the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri for help in evaluating nearly a dozen alternatives that have been proposed as a result of oil, ethanol, and corn prices in 2007 and 2008. Along with the high corn prices, there was a considerable pain for the livestock producer, and some ethanol critics began asking why the subsidies and protective tariffs continued while prices were high. The FAPRI report examined a wide range of alternatives suggested by the Members of Congress, as well as from livestock groups.

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Ethanol: Where is the Industry Heading?

DomesticFuel.com
Posted by Joanna Schroeder – June 1st, 2009

What is the ethanol industry’s financial future? This question will be asked and answered by three of the most influential ethanol organizations including Growth Energy, ACE and RFA, during the 5th Annual Biofuels Financial Conference. The conference, sponsored by Christianson & Associates, PLLP, will focus on the financial challenges and opportunities for the biofuels industry. The conference is being held in Minneapolis, Minn. on June 24 – 25, 2009.

“This is a challenging time for the ethanol industry and we must all learn how to manage during periods of volatility,” said John Christianson, Partner, Christianson & Associates, PLLP. “This conference will educate participants about the current financial challenges and opportunities facing our industry, as well as teach them how to more effectively manage their businesses during financially challenging times.”

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U.S. ethanol, corn rise with E15 blend: study

Reuters
Mon Jun 1, 2009 1:27pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. corn and fuel ethanol prices would rise by 4 cents each if gasoline contained a 15 percent blend of the renewable fuel instead of the current 10 percent, said a University of Missouri think tank.

Ethanol groups have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to increase the blend to as high as 15 percent. They say a higher blend rate will help the industry through the recession, assure federal mandates for ethanol use are met and pave the way for next-generation feedstocks such as switchgrass.

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Reuters Summit-Higher ethanol blends would be good for US -Chu

Guardian - UK
Reuters, Monday June 1 2009
By Timothy Gardner

NEW YORK, June 1 (Reuters) - Mixing slightly higher levels of ethanol into gasoline would benefit the U.S. energy supply provided the higher blends do not hurt car engines, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said.

"We are looking at whether when you go up to 12 and 13 percent (of ethanol in gasoline) whether the current fleet of automobiles would be fine in terms of the gaskets and seals and things of that nature," said Chu speaking at the Reuters Global Energy Summit in Washington. "If it turns out the existing automobile fleet ... could accept that, it would be good if we can go up to 12 or 13 percent."

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Biomass Power Generates Traction

Wall Street Journal BUSINESS
JUNE 1, 2009
By RUSSELL GOLD

While solar power is taking root in the sunny Southwest and wind power is growing in the blustery band from the Dakotas to Texas, other places are turning to trees and grass as their best bet for producing renewable energy, leading to a new building boom in "biomass" power plants.

Electric utilities may soon face new rules requiring them to generate 20% of their power from renewable sources by 2020, according to terms in a bill to combat climate change being considered by the House of Representatives. While the cost of generating solar and wind power is declining, making them increasingly attractive options, not all places have enough wind or sunshine to make power generation practical.

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